Season's Greetings from UTSA Library!!!

Christmas cards originated in England over 160 years ago. In the year 1843, Sir Henry Cole commissioned John Calcott Horsley to paint a card showing the feeding and clothing of the poor. He did this because he wanted to make his friends aware of the need to help the destitute on that holiday. The card itself was a tryptich with a center panel displaying a happy family embracing one another, sipping wine and enjoying the festivities. "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You" was printed on that first card. Legend says Sir Henry didn't send any cards the following year, but the custom became popular anyway.

Holiday cards designed by Kate Greenaway, the Victorian children's writer and illustrator and Frances Brundage and Ellen H. Clapsaddle, were favorites in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Most were elaborate, decorated with fringe, silk and satin. Some were shaped liked fans and crescents; others were cut into the shapes of bells, birds, candles and even plum puddings. Some folded like maps or fitted together as puzzles; other squealed or squeaked.

For more than 30 years, Americans had to import greeting cards from England. In 1875, Louis Prang, a German immigrant to the U.S., opened a lithographic shop with $250 and published the first line of U.S. Christmas cards. His initial creations featured flowers and birds, unrelated to what we think of now as traditional Christmas images. By 1881, Prang was producing more than five million Christmas cards each year. His Yuletide greetings began to feature snow scenes, fir trees, glowing fireplaces and children playing with toys. Christmas Cards have changed since the days of Sir Henry and Louis Prang. They now sport comics, jokes and clever verses, and even often say Happy Holidays rather than Merry Christmas.